MRNA vaccines help to eliminate the Covid-19 epidemic and save millions of people.
Since then, researchers have been developing technology to prevent various types of infectious diseases and cancer.
But experts warned that US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy has severely affected this progress after the announcement of cuts in MRNA Technology Research.
Overall, the US Health Department wants to cancel contracts and extracts $ 500 million (€ 427 million) of research funding, it was announced on 8 August.
The announcement was the latest in a series of anti-science policies brought to the office during the second term of President Trump, including a political tech-over of federal research grants and drawing from the World Health Organization.
What does this mean for the future of MRNA vaccine development? We take a look.
MRNA vaccines have a long history of security and efficacy
In the 1990s, mRNA vaccines were tested in mice to vaccinate against flu, then in 2013, in 2013 humans were tested to vaccinate against rabies.
It was thanks to these decades of research and testing that the MRNA vaccine technique was ready and safe during the Kovid -19 epidemic.
Kennedy has been a long -time critic of technology, a video in a video said in a video posted on the social media platform that the MRNA program is “disturbed”.
Kennedy said in the video, “We are prioritizing the development of the entire virus vaccines and novel platforms, comprehensive vaccine strategies that do not collapse when the virus is muted.”
What types of vaccines are there in development?
There are many types of vaccines in development that have different ways to help the body fight the virus. Each technology has benefits and limit on practical ideas such as disease, target population and production speed and cost.
Vaccine technology platforms have lived in live (but weak) and “complete” pathogen vaccines. For example, polio vaccine is available in both forms.
There are toxoid-based vaccines, which use passive bacterial toxins. Then there are viral vector vaccines, which train the immune system by introducing small viral pathogenic pieces in the body.
DNA-based treatments are considered another way to provide an accurate goal for human immune response.
A viral immunologist Luka Sisin-Sain at Germany’s Helmholtz Center for Infection Research is leading the development of a respiratory synchronous virus (RSV) vaccine.
The RSV vaccine is a viral vector product, which uses low -risk mouse viruses to give RSV spike protein in the human immune system.
Although still being tested, Sisin-Sen hopes that his platform will provide long-lasting immunity against RSV with a single vaccination box.
Are other types of vaccines as MRNA’s vaccines?
Despite the promises of other vaccine technologies, he has not made the same impact as his MRNA cousin.
This is because the advantage of using MRNA technology in the form of vaccines is the ability to quickly adapt their use for new pathogens.
Penny Ward, a pharmaceutical doctor at King’s College London, London, said, “Once you know the structure of the virus, genetics of the virus, you can produce a vaccine very fast,” said Penny Ward, a pharmaceutical doctor at Kings College London, UK.
In some cases, MRNA vaccines may be more effective in training the body’s immune response to a pathogen.
“We do not produce the same immune response to DNA vaccine as we have [m]RNA Vaccine, “Ward said.
Will there be a profit for other vaccines for MRNA research?
There is no guarantee that $ 500 million funding will flow in other vaccine research.
Kennedy is a long-time vaccine critic, which has been found by the panel that shares the vaccine recommendations and shared anti-oxy spirit during measles outbreak in the US in May.
Cicin-sain worries that defines a branch of vaccine science hinders overall progress in the research field.
“I am not saying that MRNA vaccines can solve everything, but why deny yourself a tool in your toolkit?” Cicin-Sain said.
Kennedy’s funding cuts will slow down RNA technology growth, Sisin-Sen, and drives American scientists to compete for funding outside the US, which reduces the ongoing vaccine science.
Would other steps want to find MRNA vaccine research?
While other private and philanthropic research funds exist to fund MRNA vaccine technologies, it is unlikely that they can fill the $ 500 million differences left by the Trump administration deduction.
There is no guarantee that other national governments want steps to fill the US zero.
“Funding in Europe has become stable,” Sisin-Sain said.
“And there are not so much [private] There are investors who think that vaccines are the best way to put their VC [venture capital] At work, “he said.
The ward publicly funded another problem with deductions for the Vaccine Research-Governments, which funds the vaccine research, they get the first access to successful products, which is why Brits were one of the Oxford-Astzenca vaccine.
The ward told DW, “Government funding secures access to countries that are part funds for products.”
If private funds steps to fund MRNA vaccine research, it can reduce people’s access to those vaccines at inexpensive prices.
“If progress is to be made, and there is no source of government penalty, then the industry will give funds [research] If they believe that there is a market, but it will be reflected in the price of the final product, ”the ward said.
“No matter how you are slices or dice, the net effects are going to be negative,” Sisin-Sen said.
Edited by: Fred Scholor